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History Russia > Stalin's great turn > Flashcards

Stalin's great turn Flashcards

1
Q

When was the great turn announced

A

fifteenth party congress in Dec 1927 - was a year plan

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2
Q

What was the great turn

A

Rapid industrialisation with high targets set for industry and the introduction of collectivisation into agriculture - the USSR needed an industrial base to produce more artillery as relations with powers such as Britain were declining.

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3
Q

Did the party support the great turn

A

Bolsheviks felt it encouraged private markets etc - peasants weren’t good socialists and thus couldn’t be relied upon to produce grain for the state
However the party did support rapid industrialisation

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4
Q

Why did Stalin introduce the great turn - To increase military strength

A

1920s and 30s Stalin feared the USSR would be attacked - needed more industry to prepare

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5
Q

Why did Stalin introduce the great turn - To achieve self-sufficiency

A

become less dependent on the west

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6
Q

Why did Stalin introduce the great turn - To increase grain supplies

A

wanted to end dated farming practices - didn’t want the state to be at mercy of the peasants as usually a bad harvest would damage the economy

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7
Q

Why did Stalin introduce the great turn - To move towards a socialist society

A

Marxism = socialism can only happen in a highly industrialised state where most of the population were workers - only about 20% of the USSR’s pop. at this time were workers = need more industry etc

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8
Q

Why did Stalin introduce the great turn - To establish his credentials

A

Stalin needed to prove that he was the successor of Lenin - The great turn would make him a leader of historic importance

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9
Q

Why did Stalin introduce the great turn - To improve standards of living

A

Wanted to catch up with the west - industrialisation created wealth for society

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10
Q

Collectivisation - What

A

types of farm s=
1 - Toz = peasants owned land but shared machinery - common before 1930
2 - Sovkhoz = owned and run by the state - peasants paid regular wage like factory workers
3 - Kolkhoz = land run be an elected committee - up to 300 households put together - each household gets a small plot of private land - favoured in the 1930s

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11
Q

Collectivisation - Why

A
  • more land farmed more efficiently = much higher food production
  • mechanisation - machine tractor stations (MTS) = less peasants needed to work the land
  • allowed for socialist state to be created as peasants couldn’t sell grain to private merchants
  • Stalin was struggling to get grain of the Kulaks
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12
Q

Collectivisation - How

A

Force, terror and propaganda
- Stalin used class enemy = Kulak in an attempt to scare poorer peasants into joining the collectivised farms - didn’t work
- 25,000 urban party activists tasked with revolutionising the countryside
- Decree on 1st Feb 1930 = local party organisations have the power to use necessary measures against the Kulak as part of the Dekulakisation

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13
Q

Collectivisation -impact

A
  • party claimed that by Feb 1930, 50% of all peasant households had been collectivised - reality = disaster - 30% of all livestock killed etc
  • Stalin stated in Pravda that the local officials were ‘dizzy with success’ - ended collectivisation until 1931 when it was reintroduced
  • grain requisitioning led to the famine of 1932-34
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14
Q

Collectivisation case study - Smolensk - what happened to the peasants

A

Kulaks forced to pay higher taxes etc - were prosecuted for grain concealment
- Kulaks dekulakising themselves by selling possessions etc
- Kulaks blackmailed to take their names of the deportation lists
- over 90% of peasant households in Kolkhozes by the end of the 1930s

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15
Q

Collectivisation case study - Smolensk - Peasant resistance

A
  • poorer peasants sided with the Kulaks - hid grain and attacked activists
  • 200 peasants attacked a Kolkhoz with many of the attackers being women - OGPU noted that women had heavy involvement in the resistance
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16
Q

How was collectivisation carried out - Inducements

A

modern machinery persuaded peasants to go to collectivised farms

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17
Q

How was collectivisation carried out - Threats

A

peasants threatened with arrest or forced labour

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18
Q

How was collectivisation carried out - Propaganda

A

party activists claimed collectivisation was voluntary - persuaded peasants that they were transforming the countryside for the better

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19
Q

How was collectivisation carried out - OGPU

A

forced peasants into collectivised farms through the use of force - ‘I should surround villages with machine guns and order my men to fire indiscriminately into the crowds of peasants.’

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20
Q

Stalin’s wife’s view

A

told by students about the famine in the countryside - believed Stalin was mad - died in November 1932 - suicide - Stalin stated ‘she died my enemy

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21
Q

Results of collectivisation

A
  • peasants forced to make soup out of dandelions and nettles
  • peasants tortured by requisitioning squads
  • to talk of famine = offense and = 3-5yrs in the Gulag
  • Gulag pop. rose from 30,000 to 2 million in 3 years
  • Stalin signed 3000 death warrants each day
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22
Q

Collectivisation economically successful

A
  • collected 22.8 million tonnes of grain by 1931 = financed industrialisation - 1.7 million tonnes were exported in 1932
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23
Q

Collectivisation economically failure

A
  • Grain production didn’t surpass pre-collectivisation levels until after 1935
  • Harvests dropped dramatically in the 1930s
  • mass loss of livestock as peasants killed them
  • peasant’s had nothing to work for so didn’t work very hard = passive resistance
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24
Q

Collectivisation politically successful

A
  • sevenths - eights law = 10 years sentence for stealing anything owned by the state
  • economy was now not controlled by peasants - party now had more control over the countryside
  • internal passports stopped peasants from fleeing the farms
25
Q

The human cost of Collectivisation

A
  • 1932 famine in Ukraine = 7 million deaths over 2 yrs with 5million of these being in Ukraine
  • Internal passports meant peasants couldn’t leave famine ridden areas
  • 10 million peasants disposed of between 1929 and 1932
  • THE FAMINE WAS MAN-MADE
26
Q

Industrialisation - Why

A

Economic
- a way to achieve socialism and protect the country from attacks
- 1937 = USSR virtually self-sufficient
- urgent armaments needed to get ready for WW2
- Stalin believed the USSR was 100 years behind the West and wanted to close this gap in the next 10yrs
Political
- for Stalin to solidify his power
Ideological
- creating a new society which would be superior compared to their capitalist neighbours

27
Q

Industrialisation - How

A
  • the reintroduction of the Tsarist internal passport system
  • industrial targets for output set - failure to meet these targets = a criminal offence
  • four major industrial commissars including one for heavy industry
28
Q

Who set the targets for the 5year plans

A

state decided what and when something was to be produced by

29
Q

Vesenkha

A

head = Rykov
- supreme economic council - agreed with Stalin that the majority of investment needed to go into coal, iron and steel production

30
Q

other organisations involved?

A

foreign companies sent engineers and skilled workers to help build new factories and exploit the new resources

31
Q

Role of the Gosplan

A
  • state planning commission - set up in 1921 to work out inputs each industry would need to meet the targets set for them
32
Q

Role of a manager or director

A

sole responsibility for meeting output targets

33
Q

1st 5 Year plan

A

October 1928 - December 1932
Aims = Heavy industry accounted for 80% of the investment
Successes =
- Electricity production tripled and coal and iron output doubled
- huge new tractor works were built to meet the needs of mechanised agriculture
Failures
- decline in consumer industries e.g. food processing due to drive against Nepmen
- lack of skilled workers
Other Info = climate of fear as Gosplan and the Vesenkha up bid each other, setting higher targets for industry’s etc

34
Q

2nd 5 Year plan

A

January 1933 to December 1937
Aims of plan = Heavy industry still priority but also greater emphasis on communications e.g. rail links etc.
Successes
- Heavy industry benefitting from successes of the first plan such as increased electricity production
- By 1937 the USSR was virtually self - sufficient in metal- working
- Rationing abolished
- defence output increased by 300%
Failures
- Consumer goods industries still lagging
other info
- targets for industrial output were scaled back
- Gulag labour made up 10% of the workforce

35
Q

3rd 5 Year plan

A

January 1938 to June 1941
- need for armaments became increasingly urgent
Successes
- Heavy industry continued to grow
- Defence and armaments grew rapidly
Failures
- Steel output grew insignificantly
- oil production failed to meet targets which led to a fuel crisis
- shortage of skilled labour
Other info
- exceptionally harsh winter in 1938 slowed the initial progress of the plan

36
Q

Magnitogorsk

A
  • Americans moved to the city during the great depression in hope of finding work
  • the area lacked roads and sewage pipes - a lack of fuel for fires meant many died due to the cold
  • most of the workers were peasants
  • could be shot for stealing timber etc
  • room in every barrack called the ‘red barrack’ which spread propaganda
  • if you made mistakes you were seen as a sabotage
37
Q

White sea Baltic canal

A

Background
- constructed between 1930-1933 - shortens journey from St Petersburg by 2500 miles
Successes
- the speed the soviets completed the project was well sought of at the time by other nations
- led to the development of many towns and cities along it’s banks
Failures
- over 25,000 Gulag prisoners died during the construction
- The canal was too shallow to have large ships use it = couldn’t be used to transport aval vessels which had been originally planned

38
Q

Moscow metro

A

first opened in May 1935
Successes
- Stalin saw it as a showcase of socialism being one of the biggest and busiest subways in the world
- Known for beauty with each station being decorated - socialist realism = form of propaganda to motivate the population
Failures
- most of the British engineers that helped with it’s construction were deported after a show trial

39
Q

Dnieprostori dam

A
  • Completed in October 1932 - provides 80% of Ukraine’s water resources
    Successes
  • Destroyed to reduce the access of resources for the Nazis when they invaded - showed the Soviets will to resist
  • Rebuilt in 1950 and is still in operation today
    Failures
  • cost $110 million to build initially
  • destruction of the dam killed up to 100,000 - led to hatred from Ukrainians towards the USSR - Ukrainians allowed the Nazis in willingly
40
Q

Magnitogorsk - what and when

A

gigantic steel plant - construction completed in 1935

41
Q

Magnitogorsk - what happened to raw materials here

A

firms requested more than they needed - hoarded materials - quality very poor also

42
Q

Magnitogorsk - Who worked there

A

typically ex-peasant with almost half of the workers being under the age of 24
By 1932 75% were there on there own free will

43
Q

Magnitogorsk - Ural river dam

A

built to supply the steel factory with water - the dam was built in just 74 days - although poorly constructed = chronic shortage of water

44
Q

Magnitogorsk -who was VP Ogorodnikov

A
  • name features 4 times in a list of 8 record-breaking shifts in Magnitogorsk - rewarded with a motorcycle and a house and became a household name
45
Q

Magnitogorsk - living standards

A
  • only 15% lived in permanent housing with 25% living in mud huts
46
Q

Foreign help during the five year plans

A
  • companies sent specialist’s and skilled workers etc to build new factories etc
    -Henry ford helped the Russians develop a car industry
  • the Great depression in America forced many Americans to go to the USSR in search for jobs
47
Q

Stakhanovite movement

A

30th August 1935 - workers extracted 102 tonnes of coal in one shift - received large pay bonus, an apartment and a holiday etc

48
Q

who came up with the Stakhanovite movement

A

Konstain petrov- party organiser who’s area had fallen behind it’s quota

49
Q

Stakhanovite movement spreading across the USSR

A

several other miners demanded the chance to beat the record - Stalin called for Stakhanovism to be spread ‘widely and deeply’ across the Soviet Union

50
Q

Stakhanovite movement propaganda value

A

Ordozkidze called him the ‘soviet Hercules.’

51
Q

Living and working conditions in the five year plans - Men: peasants

A
  • half of the labour force at the end of the first five year plan were peasants
  • very high labour turnover - 1930 = workers changed jobs 3 times a year - peasants found it difficult to adapt to factory work
52
Q

Living and working conditions in the five year plans - Men: Skilled workers

A
  • rare so factories wanted to attract them - offered high wages etc
  • less than 7% of the workforce were skilled
53
Q

Living and working conditions in the five year plans - Managers

A
  • not meeting targets = wreckers - under lot’s of pressure from the government and the workers
  • desperate to keep skilled workers
  • ‘it’s necessary not too work well but to account well.’
54
Q

Living and working conditions in the five year plans - Women

A

-10 million entered the workforce - dominated professions such as teaching and medicine - generally paid less
- Petrograd women made up 44% of the workforce

55
Q

Living and working conditions in the five year plans - Tough measure

A
  • wage differentials = reward skilled workers etc
  • Tough measures in 1930-1933 to deal with absenteeism - included dismissal, etc
    -1938 = labour books and internal passports issued - difficult to survive without a labour book
56
Q

Living and working conditions in the five year plans - Forced labour

A
  • peasants forced into industrial work by collectivisation - high rates of absenteeism
  • after April 1930, all criminals sentenced to over 3 yrs were sent to a labour camp = provided cheap labour
57
Q

Strengths of the economy by 1941

A
  • Become highly industrialised nation - By 1940 the USSR had overtaken Britain in in Iron and Steel production
  • nine aircraft factories constructed in 1939 - also producing 100,000 rifles per month
  • Stalin had come closer to achieving true socialism
58
Q

Weaknesses of the economy by 1941

A
  • Soviet claims and statistics were often exaggerated
  • 3rd 5 year plan was left incomplete and was still producing less grain than under the NEP

History Russia (9 decks)

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